Cable Left, Cable Right: 94 Knitted Cables

by Judith Durant

Knitted cables, with their three-dimensional twists and turns, are a common element in lots of patterns — but most patterns don’t include directions for executing them. Cable Left, Cable Right , by expert knitter Judith Durant, eliminates the mystery with detailed, in-depth instructions for creating 94 different styles of cable, from perfectly plain to fantastically fancy. Close-up photos and clear instructions teach you the techniques you need, including design options like braids, diamonds, and pretzels so you can make your cables truly one-of-a-kind. This book is the perfect companion to any knitting pattern featuring cables, giving you the information and skills to make polished, beautiful, and unique cables for any project.

Genres: Knitting, Nonfiction, Crafts, Reference

216 pages, Spiral-bound

First published May 31, 2016

About the author

Judith Durant is a knitter and beadworker as well as author and editor of several books on both subjects. Trained as a theatrical costume designer, she took a circuitous route through various costume shops in New York, on to a New York theatrical book publishing house, and then to Interweave Press in Colorado, where she was book editor and one of the founding editors of Interweave Knits.

Judith is currently a freelance writer, editor, designer, and teacher based in Massachusetts. She has more than 25 years of experience in publishing and a wealth of experience in many crafts. Judith can help you with editorial project management, design development and pattern writing, and technical and copy editing. Judith is also available to teach workshops at your shop or guild meeting.

Reviews

[Veronica ⭐️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has visuals and written instructions for 94 different knitted cables.
Enlarged illustrations of the actual knitted pattern lets you easily see what your piece should look like. Includes easy to read graphs with each pattern.

I've only ever knitted patterns with cable front and cable back instructions. However I found the left and right cable pattern was easy to understand and follow.

I think of myself as a competent knitter and have added simple cables into plain jumpers. This wonderful guide has opened up a whole new world of cabling and I am excited about not only making intricate patterns in children's jumpers but I just might be making a multi cabled throw/blanket to show off some of these amazing ideas; a patchwork of cables.

With my thanks to Storey Publishing via Netgalley for my ARC to read and review.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok let me first start off and say I would classify myself between a medium to experienced knitter. I’m by no means a master but I’m far from a beginner. At one point I was teaching classes on knitting for beginners. Even as being such, one thing I strayed away from was cables. I’ve thrown the typical rope cables in a project or two but that's about it. The more intricate cables and designs always seemed so daunting and time consuming. When I knit I like to rip roar and go. A few years back I bought the Vogue Knitting Stitchionary 2: Cables book. I really wanted to up my repertoire. And let me just say, there are some completely gorgeous cables in that book. But what I feel the book was lacking in was some kind of an explanation or lesson on cabling techniques. That’s where this book comes in. This book is a great complementary to that book and any other cabling stitchionary. The author provides you with a glossary of knitting abbreviations/terminology, a chart of symbols, a play by play knitting guide of each of the cabling techniques, tips and tricks, and cables ranging from simple to complex. I think my favorite part of the book would have to be the play by play knitting guide. It shows you each step of all the different techniques in detail and explains how to complete them. I’m someone who is very visual and learns more from seeing than hearing. This helped me immensely when it came to double crossing stitches, which is a new technique I picked up thanks to this book. Once you feel you’ve mastered the different cables, you can try a few of the fun ways to dress up your cables with different stitches, colors, and beads. Which I forgot to mention, is another chapter this book offers. After reading this book, I’m inspired to add more cables to my projects. I’ve got a few decorative pillows in mind! Some of the complicated looking designs turned out to be a lot less complicated to pull off then I once thought. I would completely recommend this book to anyone starting out with cabling, wanting to learn more than just rope cables or someone who’s struggling a bit with cables. While I really like this book, I wouldn’t recommend it for anyone who’s already got their cabling game down pat, expert knitter, or someone looking for cabling patterns. You wouldn’t really pick up much of anything new to warrant the purchase of this book.


Received this book as an ARC for a honest review : )

[Veronica K Albin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just what I was looking for

[Vicki · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Cable Left Cable Right” by Judith Durant is the latest in a series of books by Storey Publishing. One of the previous books, “Increase Decrease” is by the same author.

The book contains a great number of variations of cables and would have been a perfect resource for me but for the fact that it contains only charts – there are no written instructions. I can follow charts easily for cross stitch and needlepoint but I find that for knitting and crochet, I prefer written instructions along with charts. I follow the written instructions and then use the charts for the tricky bits.

I could sit and write down the instructions on each page but rather than do that, I will look for another book that works better for my needs. If you prefer charts, this could be a great resource book for you but for me, it is a little too time consuming.

I was provided a temporary digital advance reader copy of this book by the publisher, Storey Publishing, LLC, via Netgalley.

[Dawn Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cable Left Cable Right by Judith Durant

216 Pages
Publisher: Storey Publishing, Storey Publishing LLC
Release Date: May 31, 2016

Nonfiction, Crafts, Yarn, Knitting

The book is divided into the following chapters.

Chapter 1: Cable Basics
Chapter 2: Simple Cables
Chapter 3: Angels and Curves
Chapter 4: Braids and Pretzels
Chapter 5: Fillers, Ribbings, and Allover Patterns
Chapter 6: Dressing Up Your Cables
Chapter 7: Design Considerations

Being new to knitting, I was somewhat overwhelmed with the terms and patterns. I appreciated the thorough terminology, definitions, and chart symbols provided. I love the photos that go with the step-by-step directions. It makes it easy to follow the instructions. The author also gives great tips for maintaining tension to keep the cables neat and even. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning how to knit cables.

[Emma Sea · Rating 3 out of 5]

this beginner is not ready for this book. the explanations have me more befuddled than the charts.

[Mary Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

No Written Patterns, Lots of Charts ☹️

This book will force me to learn to read charts, something I struggle with. I may have to write out each chart so I can work it.

[Satu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great selection of cable patterns with clear pictures and instructions. At the $3 sale price for Kindle this is a steal.

[Montzalee Wittmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cable Left, Cable Right by Judith Durant is a very detailed and charming book on knitting patterns. The book is not for the very beginner who is just picking up a knitting needle for the first time but for the knitter who wants to learn some cool patterns and do them properly. She starts the book off by showing the tools and cable symbols that will be used in the book then goes on to show several close up and detailed images of the real knitting performed for that symbol. She does this with all the symbols so the reader knows what each one of the symbol is referring to. A handy tool to have! Next come the tips that are useful also. Soon she shows many patterns from simple to difficult, braiding, pretzels, combining, one to two colors, adding texture, fillers and bobbles, reversible, adding beads, all with patterns and wonderful close up images. I am not sure how many patterns are in the book but it is filled! She ends with design considerations such as increasing and decreasing patterns, calculating take-up and splay. I found it very interesting and informative. I received this book from NetGalley for a honest review and it in no way effected my rating or review content.

[Rain · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

As someone who has never knitted a cable before, this was a great book to start with. The first thing I noticed about this novel is how beautiful the images are. They are so clear and crisp that it is easy to see the stitching, a huge plus for any knitting book.

The book begins with explained what a knitted cable actually is and some terminology and charting symbols you should familiarize yourself with. I appreciated that the charting symbols not only came with the images but short little descriptions of how to do them. The book also explains other important symbols to know as well as different types of needles used. The best about this book? The step by step descriptions and images that went with each. As a visual learner, it was a great asset to me especially since I am not as familiar with knitting as I am crochet.

I couldn’t have asked for a better book to try and learn cable stitches from. I have always loved cable stitches, and now I can finally knit my own!

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book for NetGalley.

I am a big fan of Judith Durant, and this book is one of the reasons. She is an excellent and knowledgeable author of knitting books that are written in an approachable, friendly and authoritative style. This book is no exception - Ms. Durant discusses and explains cabling - that simple act of crossing knit stitches to produce beautiful and interesting 3-D textures on (at least on the knit side)a typically flat, uniform fabric.

Every level of knitter can learn something from this book. From beginner to very experienced and advanced, one can learn something. I've been knitting for almost fifty years and have read tons of knitting books, and I picked up a lot of useful information from this one. It was well worth my while.

The instructions and explanations in the book are clear, easy to understand and approachable. The illustrations are well-done. Publication values are high, as with all Storey Publishing books.

Very useful and well-done book.

[Tarri · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is amazing.

I have knit for many years and only once tried cables (and that was back in the 70s). Having recently started knitting again after not knitting for about 30 years (so many different crafts, so little time), I really wanted to do something with cables, but I just had to get past my mental block. I even set doing something with cables as a goal a couple of years ago, but just never followed through.

Judith Durant's instruction book, Cable Left, Cable Right has not only given me the confidence to know that I can knit cables, but I can't wait to at least try some of the more intricate patterns. The instructions are concise and the pictures are perfect. The author even makes graphs look and sound easy. I cannot recommend this book more highly to people who want to learn how to knit with cables or for the more experienced knitter who wants to jazz up their projects.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Maria Elmvang · Rating 5 out of 5]

This cable reference book is an absolute must for any knitter who wants to knit cables, design cables or just look at cables.

Judith Durant goes into great detail about how to knit cables - all the tips and tricks that makes the oh-so-complicated-looking cables into a breeze to knit, including, but not limited to how to cable without a cable needle (although I'm obviously a bigger fan of that technique than she is), how to count rows in a cable, how to add texture to cables, how to make the first stitch after a cable look nice, and even how to knit two-coloured cables!

Each cable comes with a clear chart, a written description of the cable and a nice, big picture of a swatch in a colour that makes it easy to see the details.

I found a ton of cables I want to try my hand at, and might have to knit a bunch of swatches to try them out. A definite "buy-it-now" book.

[sidewalk · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book from the publisher for review.

Let's just cut through the chase and say: must have book.
I love it, I am happy that it is now in my library.
As always, the how to's are well written out and easy to understand, but even if something might be a bit tricky to wrap your mind around in written form, there are step by step photos of everything you need to know about cabling.
the cable patterns in the book will keep you busy amd your projects looking amazing for a long time to come.
I love how the braids and cables and travelling stitches are categorized into collections and that the charts are also given.
A great book for the beginning cabler, as well as a great resource for experienced knitters looking for something to add a bit of texture to their next project.
No more vanilla socks! Cable those babies!

[Gloria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to Storey and Netgalley for an eARC of this book.
An excellent book on knitting cables - all kinds of cables. I really loved the book. I consider myself to be an advanced knitter but I have mostly muddled through doing cables. While they have looked just fine, I did not find them fun. I learned so many tricks from this book that I can't wait for my next cables project to try them out.

Judith writes well-organized, clear descriptions and the pictures are excellent. There are tons of videos out there these days but sometimes it is nice to have a print copy to look at to follow at ones own speed. The spiral binding makes it particularly easy to use. I really appreciate that Storey Publishing is producing so many fiber arts books.

[Guylou (Two Dogs and a Book) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book to reivew from Storey Publishing through NetGalley. What a wonderful book on cabling! I love knitting in my spare time and have experimented with simple cabling in the past. This book is beautifully illustrated and well laid out. Judith Durant provides instructions that are clear and concise. The book is filled with beautiful patterns for all level of expertise. I am looking forward to attempt some of the more complex designs. I have a feeling that I have a good chance in succeeding if I follow the clear instructions provided in this beautiful book. This is a great book for crafters to have in their book collection.

[Katrina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm currently learning to cable knit so I was really excited to get into this book. The patterns are great, but I'm not yet good at reading graphs, and some of the patterns only appear to have graphs to describe them. I am much better with abbreviations. Hopefully, though, I can still pick up a few of the tips in this book and use them in my crafts. I tried a few stitches out last night and they were great. Also, the pictures are really good. I've read a lot of knitting books that the pictures didn't show enough of the steps and I had to look the stitches up on YouTube. The images in this book were VERY helpful and well-done.

[Melissa Dee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful book, with carefully detailed instructions for a huge collection of cable patterns. Of special value are the close-up photographs of the patterns. All knitters make mistakes (dropped stitches, cables crossed in the wrong direction ...), and I found the photos invaluable in allowing me to see exactly how each stitch in the pattern should behave, making it much easier to correct errors as I knit.

Many of the patterns in this collection are old friends, but several, including the multi-colored cables, are new and exciting additions to my working collection. I very much look forward to incorporating them into my sock designs.

Review of ARC via NetGalley

[Renee Wood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Received from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. In Cable Left, Cable Right: 94 Knitted Cables, Judith Durant not only give us a wide assortment of cables, but clear, concise instructions and wonderful photos to help us on our journey into the world of cables. The book assumes a basic knowledge of knitting, but shows you how to do the more advanced techniques involved in making cables with or without a cable needle, and also how to read charts. She also shows beading, 'filler' stitches, and color work. Easy to follow directions, clear charts, and great pictures make this book a great addition to any knitter's stitch library.

[The Flipped Page (Susan K) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will say, I didn't practice any of the cables pictured. I love reference books for knitting, and this was beautiful done, very colorful, and well-thought out. For any knitter or crafter, having a book that is well-laid out, relatively comprehensive and easy to follow is a must. There were easier and more difficult cables in the book, so nice for either a beginner or a more advanced cable knitter. Definitely one I would consider purchasing for my home 'reference library' for knitting. Color photos were perfect to illustrate the knitted examples.
I received a copy from the publisher on NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

[Leyla Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a lovely well written book about knitting cables. It is easily understood and the actually step by step photos at the beginning are really good to start you off. The rest is mainly charts but they are not hard to follow once you grasp the method. The instructions start with basic cables and progress to harder patterns, but having said that they are do-able by the near beginner. I love the two colour cables, which I hadn't tried before. There is also a section on cables with beads, for those that like a little bling in there cables. An informative and very well presented book.

[Jessie · Rating 5 out of 5]

NetGalley ARC

Cables are one of my favorite things to knit. I love the intricate knot work and patterns. This is a great book for cable lovers. While it does not provide actual patterns, it gives great direction in how to create the cables and how to add them into existing patterns. With this book you can add a cable a scarf or the front of a sweater with ease. It also gives you an understanding of how the cable works through clear instructions and illustrations. Highly recommended for knitters.

[Samantha Bilodeau · Rating 5 out of 5]

As of right now, I have only worked up a few swatches for about 4 of the different cable designs, but I am thoroughly enjoying this book! I am a beginning knitter (though advanced crocheter) and have only done some very basic cable stitches prior to this book. And not many at that!

These patterns are all very easy to follow, even for me. :) I really love the variety of cabling and look forward to buying this for my friend who is a much more advanced knitter than myself!

* I received an ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.com for an unbiased, honest review.

[Lynndell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and Storey Publishing for the arc of Cable Left, Cable Right by Judith Durant! This book is very descriptive with wonderful pictures showing great detail. Perfect for knitters familiar with knitting vocabulary, not for beginners. Bead-work designs and the helpful charts, that go along with these designs, show weight of yarn used and size of beads needed for different projects. Advice on fixing ripples and calculating stitch count are also included. The projects are beautiful and intermediate and experienced knitters will love it!

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are interested in learning to knit cables, this is a great book for you! Judith Durant does a wonderful job of explaining by using step by step photos. She uses lots of tips and tricks and makes even complicated cable patterns look less daunting and achievable. This great book should be in every knitter's book stash!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC for my honest and impartial review!

[Rebekka Steg · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent introduction to cables, with something for everyone from beginners to advanced knitters. I learnt so much about how the different types of cables are created, and I feel empowered both to take on more difficult cabled patterns as well as design my own. With great photos and clear instructions cover 94 different kinds of knitted cables, a fantastic resource.

*I received an ARC, the review is my own honest opinion.*

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent book on cables - the layout is very professional - with clear pictures using yarn that enables great stitch definition and nice clear charts. Good tips are given throughout. Lots of ideas generated for future projects! Excellent reference book for a knitter's library.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing a free proof copy in exchange for an unbiased review.

[Kirsten · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fabulous book for anyone learning to do cables or who's already experienced and looking to expand on their knowledge of cables. The pictures and charts as well as the explanations of more complicated techniques are very clear and easy to follow. I would recommend that this book bea part of any knitter's bookshelf!

[Stephanie Morrow · Rating 3 out of 5]

With the cable symbols at the start of the book, and most of the book charted, I found it very difficult to try to learn the patterns. It would have been easier (as a beginner) to read the charts if I didn't have to keep flipping back to the front in order to see what the symbols meant. Great for someone who is already familiar with the basics.

[Polly Krize · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Very well-put together book detailing multiple cable designs. Photographs are well placed, especially the needle-placement pics near the front. The diagrams are self-explanatory, and detailed. Invaluable for any knitter, although I suspect some experience with cabling would be an asset.